


so only you can see

by theafterimages



Series: bookstore au [3]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-05-25
Packaged: 2018-04-01 06:26:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4009312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theafterimages/pseuds/theafterimages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected development at the bookstore changes everything for Zitao and Sehun. (Bookstore AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	so only you can see

**Author's Note:**

> The fic is set a few months after [sunshine boy](http://eveninadream.livejournal.com/12543.html). Thank you to E & T for looking it over for me!

Sehun had intended to just spend the day hanging around the apartment with Zitao, taking advantage of their rare mutual free day. A barrage of frantic texts from Jongin asking Sehun to bring his forgotten wallet to the bookstore for him yet again is definitely not part of the plan.

At least Jongin timed it right: Zitao’s at yoga class and all Sehun was really going to do for the next half hour or so was curl up in the blankets and doze, so Sehun only has to combat his own laziness and reluctance. 

Since Sehun is a saint he drags himself out of bed (after Jongin’s assured him enough times that he knows he’ll owe Sehun a huge favor, of course), pulls on some clothes from the pile on the floor, and drives to the bookstore. "At least it’s only a few minutes away," he consoles himself on the way, taking a swig of the thermos of coffee he’d brought along.

When Sehun walks into the bookstore, Jongin's wallet in hand, Lu Han starts laughing as soon as he catches sight of him. “Nice shirt,” he manages to say. 

Sehun glances down at the tank top he has on, the leopard print one Zitao had left on the bedroom floor within minutes of getting to Sehun’s apartment after his bookstore shift last night, and smiles.

“Tell me you at least washed it first,” Jongdae chimes in.

“Then what would be the point?” Sehun asks. He wonders about Zitao and Jongin’s coworkers sometimes, he really does. “Haven’t you ever smelled Tao?”

Jongdae raises his eyebrows. “I’m a believer in personal space-” (Lu Han laughs even harder at that) “-so, no?”

Sehun looks to Lu Han, who also shakes his head, then sighs. “Well, he smells really good. Hasn’t anyone-” He looks around, then waves to Yifan, who’s approaching. “Yifan hyung!”

Yifan smiles back. “What’s up?”

“Doesn’t Tao smell good?”

Yifan’s steps slow. “Um…”

“He does,” Minseok says.

Lu Han’s head whips around immediately, and he pins Minseok with a disbelieving stare. “How do you know?”

“We’ve cuddled,” he says with a shrug.

“Without me?” Lu Han demands, scandalized.

Jongin and Kyungsoo stop short as soon as they round the corner, taking in the scene with their most judgmental expressions firmly in place. Sehun can see Kyungsoo say something to Jongin, who just shakes his head. Sehun leans back against the counter, watching in amusement as Jongin reluctantly approaches but Kyungsoo turns around and goes back the way he came.

“You owe me,” Sehun reminds him as he hands Jongin’s wallet over.

Jongin rolls his eyes as he tucks the wallet into his back pocket. “I know, I know.”

“Hey, hyung,” Sehun adds impulsively before Jongin can escape, “doesn’t Tao-”

“Can’t hear you,” Jongin says quickly, picking up the pace and leaving Sehun to laugh after him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zitao’s sprawled out on the couch, flipping through television channels, when Sehun gets home. “Nice shirt,” Zitao tells him, the grin Sehun never tires of seeing spreading across his face.

“Thanks,” Sehun says, crossing the room quickly. Zitao sits up, smile turning fond, curling his hands around Sehun’s hips and pulling him close as Sehun straddles his waist. “Stole it from my boyfriend.”

They’ve been together for months now, but that’s a word he’s never gotten tired of saying. Zitao still lights up every time he does, too. “He has good taste,” Zitao murmurs, leaning in and nuzzling the column of Sehun’s throat, his fingertips starting to wander beneath the hem of Sehun’s borrowed tank top.

Sehun hums, wrapping his arms around Zitao’s neck. “I don’t know, he has this ugly fedora-”

“ _Hey_.” Zitao pulls back and scowls playfully at him. Sehun giggles, then distracts them both with a kiss.

Sehun doesn’t keep the shirt on for much longer. But that’s all right, he thinks later, pressing his face against the crook of Zitao’s neck and inhaling contentedly. No need to settle for wearing Zitao’s clothes when he can wrap himself around Zitao instead.

Zitao trails his fingers along Sehun’s sweat-slick spine, sighing quietly before he presses his lips to Sehun’s temple. “Love you, Hun-ah.”

Sehun had thought he couldn’t be happier that the original plan for the day was back on, but hearing those words proves him wrong, the way it always does. Sehun smiles, can’t help it, and kisses Zitao’s collarbone, then starts kissing his way up Zitao’s neck, thoroughly enjoying how Zitao’s breathing picks back up and how he starts to shift restlessly underneath Sehun. 

Sehun’s almost reached the place near the hinge of Zitao’s jaw that always makes him full-on moan when Zitao’s phone rings. Zitao sits up with a startled yelp, the sudden movement almost sending Sehun rolling off the couch.

“Ignore it,” Sehun tells him, but even as he says that he knows it’s a lost cause. Zitao’s phone is the other love of his life, so of course he picks it up and checks the display. 

“It’s Yifan,” he says, his eyes widening. Sehun sighs and sits up as Zitao answers.

Luckily for Sehun, the conversation doesn’t take long. “What is it?” Sehun asks when Zitao sets the phone down again.

“He wants me to go over there.”

“ _Now_?”

“He says it’s important,” Zitao says with a shrug. “He wouldn’t say anything else.”

Sehun sighs again. “Fine.”

Zitao gives him a quick kiss, his hand cupped against the back of Sehun’s neck, his thumb stroking slowly over his skin. “I’ll come right back, okay?” 

Sehun leans into his touch shamelessly, but still pouts at Zitao. He can’t give in too easily, after all. “Okay, fine. Tell Yifan hyung I said you have to come back soon.”

“You won’t even notice I’m gone,” Zitao assures him, and gives him another kiss before getting up from the couch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time Zitao gets back, Sehun has decided to wait for him in his bedroom instead. Which is just as well, since Zitao more than makes up for his absence.

Sehun stares up at the bedroom ceiling as Zitao finally rolls off him, both of them gasping for breath. “Do I need to write Yifan hyung a thank you note?” Sehun asks once his brain’s back in somewhat working order. Zitao bursts into laughter and shifts onto his side, cuddling Sehun. “Seriously, what’d he say? Are you getting a raise?”

“You’ll see,” Zitao says mysteriously. His smile is a mile wide. “It’s not final yet. I don’t want to jinx it.”

“Fine,” Sehun agrees at last. “But I’d better be the first person you tell.”

“I promise,” Zitao says. He links their pinkies together, then kisses the back of Sehun’s hand. It’s probably stupid that even after months together things like that still make Sehun’s stomach flutter, but he kind of hopes that he’ll never get used to it; that they’ll always be able to make each other feel just like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s another week before Zitao can keep his promise. 

Sehun’s halfway through his restaurant shift, waiting for the dishwasher to finish its latest load and counting down until he can leave, when Zitao approaches the dish station. 

“Hey, you should come by the bookstore later,” Zitao tells him, in that casual, offhand tone they’ve both perfected ever since they started dating. “If you’re not doing anything.”

Sehun has a million little reminders he runs through every time they work together; don’t look at Zitao too long, don’t stand too close, don’t touch him too much, don’t even _think_ about what they do when they’re not at work. He’s never sure how successful he really is, but it’s been six months and they haven’t gotten caught yet (though there are a few people who give them suspicious looks from time to time). 

Accordingly, he tosses Zitao a quick look over his shoulder before refocusing on the task at hand, pulling the tray of newly clean dishes out and replacing it with the next batch. “Why?”

“We’re doing a thing. Yifan hyung said you should come, since you’re always there, anyway. Plus Jongin will be.”

“Oh. Okay, I guess. For a while.”

“Cool.” Zitao nudges him before he heads back up to the front, picking up a stack of cups to carry with him. Very casual. Well, aside from the wink he tosses Sehun’s way before going through the swinging door, but that’s easy enough for anyone to chalk up to Zitao just being Zitao.

Well, anyone but Amber, who smiles knowingly at Sehun as she passes by a few seconds later. Other than Joonmyun, she’s the only Paradise employee who knows that he’s with Zitao. Since Amber’s been dating Minseok for over a year now, she spends time at the bookstore, too. It hadn’t taken long for her to start wondering why Sehun was there so often, and the whole story had come out from there.

“Do you know what’s going on tonight?” Sehun thinks to ask before she’s out of earshot. After all, Minseok could’ve told her.

She pauses in the doorway. “Maybe.”

“Would you tell me if you did?”

“ _Maybe_.”

Sehun pouts at her, but Amber just laughs at him for it. It’s never half as effective on anyone else as it is when he uses it on Zitao. “Get out of here, go ring up some customers,” she tells him. “You’ll see soon!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three hours later Sehun walks into pandemonium. Jongdae and Jongin are hitting each other with balloons and laughing; Lu Han appears to be trying to talk Minseok into putting on a paper crown; Yixing is happily folding origami cranes; Yifan is trying to take a packet of confetti away from Chanyeol; and Baekhyun and Kyungsoo are bent over Jongdae’s desk, where they appear to be writing some sort of list.

“What’s going on?” Sehun asks.

“Minseok got a job!” Lu Han announces, taking advantage of Minseok’s distraction to finally settle the crown in place. 

“So we’re throwing him a party,” Chanyeol adds. Yifan manages to snatch the bag of confetti while he’s distracted, laughing when Chanyeol immediately turns on him and objects.

“Congratulations, hyung!” Sehun tells Minseok. 

Minseok beams. “Thanks, Sehun. They’re a really good firm, I was really hoping to get the position, and—Lu Han, come on, don't-”

Sehun only gets to watch the show for a few more seconds, since he’s completely distracted when Zitao comes up behind him, taking his hand. Sehun links his fingers with Zitao’s, leaning back into his warmth, that part of him that’s always so tense and watchful at Paradise unwinding. This is the way he’s supposed to be, the way _they’re_ supposed to be. 

“You were right,” Zitao tells Sehun happily, kissing the side of his head. “Everything’s worked out.” 

“What?”

“I—come on.” Zitao looks around, then pulls Sehun toward the back of the store, unlocking the back door and taking him through the shipping department. 

They’ve snuck back here a few times to make out, when Zitao’s working late and the shipping employees have gone home for the day. Sehun is usually too consumed by Zitao to pay any attention to his surroundings, so he takes a quick glance around now, taking in the tables and computers and scanners and boxes and books everywhere. It’s a big space, but so full of stuff that Sehun is still almost overwhelmed.

“How does Kyungsoo hyung work back here?” he asks.

Zitao grimaces. “No idea. Baekhyun thinks it’s part of why he gets so angry.”

“Probably,” Sehun says with a short laugh, and narrowly manages to avoid running into an unsteady-looking pile of boxes.

Zitao leads him into a nearby office. Sehun isn’t sure who it belongs to, since there aren’t any personal touches that he can see. He doesn’t even know if Minseok or Yifan have offices, come to think of it. 

Sehun deliberately looks away from the desk, pushing back kneejerk fantasies about Zitao bending him over it, and focuses on Zitao instead. “Okay, what’s going on?” 

Zitao squeezes his hand. He’s so eager that he’s rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Since Minseok hyung’s leaving, they’re changing some jobs around. Including mine.”

“You’re going to be a manager?” Sehun asks blankly.

“What? No! Yixing’s going to be the new manager, so _I’m_ taking over his customer service job.”

“What about your classes?”

“We can work around that,” Zitao assures him. “I can do some of it from home, too, if I have to. I’ll get more hours, and a raise. A little one, but still.”

A new job. A raise. What all this really means slowly dawns on Sehun. “So you’re…”

Zitao nods, his smile somehow managing to get even wider. “I put in my notice at Paradise today, before I left. Next week’s going to be my last week.”

“We won’t be working together,” Sehun says in disbelief. 

Zitao nods. “Next time we go on vacation we can post any pictures we want,” he says, then pretends to reconsider. “Well, maybe not all of them…”

Sehun would normally laugh, but he's still reeling. No more thinking twice before he says anything at work. No more second guessing everything he posts on Instagram. He’s hated hiding his relationship with Zitao, has always wanted everyone to know that Zitao’s his and he’s Zitao’s, and now he doesn’t have to. It seems too good to be true but it’s _happening_ , it’s finally-

Zitao’s waiting for him to say something, but Sehun kisses him instead, the way he’s wanted to so many times at Paradise and has always had to suppress until they’re alone together. If there were ever a time to give in to the constant pull between them, it’s now.

Zitao’s smile is more blinding than ever when Sehun finally pulls away for air, his hands still clutching at Zitao’s sides as Zitao rests his forehead against Sehun’s. “You’d better not have gotten tomato sauce on my new shirt-” Zitao teases breathlessly.

“You got a raise, you can get a new one,” Sehun reminds him, and Zitao’s retort is lost as Sehun kisses him again.


End file.
